A Spark of Intelligence
by WeirdVision
Summary: Gabriel is a clone with a faulty chip in his brain so he goes to look for help.
1. Chapter 1

**Author note:**_ In case you don't recognize all of the characters:  
Gabriel Vaughn (Josh Holloway, Intelligence)  
Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer, House)  
Del (NS-5 robot from I, Robot)  
Alec McDowel (Jensen Ackles, Dark Angel)  
Thomas Barrow (Rob James-Collier, Downton Abbey)  
Cameron Phillips (Summer Glau, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)_

_Thanks to **ok2016** for beta reading this fic!_

"We have an opportunity to get a contract, but it won't happen unless you get here," my business partner had called to tell me that morning. "And before you ask, no, it can't be discussed over the phone."

That last bit of information intrigued me, so I put on a business suit and headed to the office, hoping it wasn't going to take long because I had plans for lunch in the city later that day.

"What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?" I asked as soon as I entered the conference room, skipping the introduction part.

The two men facing my business partner rose from their chairs. The one wearing a suit was in his fifties and had a pale complexion. The other one, taller, with short brown hair and wearing a brown leather jacket, looked rather fit, but the fine lines around his eyes betrayed his age, early forties at best.

"We have a piece of equipment that isn't working properly and needs some testing," the man wearing a suit said.

"We don't really do hardware," I told him.

"We believe it's a software problem," he said.

That we could do. "All right. Give the equipment to our team so they can have a look."

"The problem is," my partner said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "the boys took one look at the confidentiality policy and the mile long list of clauses and refused to sign it."

"Oh. May I see it?" I held my hand out. "And what is this about?"

The man is the suit pulled a stack of papers out of his pocket and offered them, saying, "You'll need to sign these first."

My hand dropped without taking them, and I frowned as I tried to figure out what was going on. Our firm wasn't big enough to handle governmental or military contracts so it couldn't be that. "Do you know?" I asked my partner. If he said it was all right…

He shook his head. "They didn't tell me either."

"Then why didn't you send them packing? We don't do stuff like that." I nodded at the papers left lying on the table.

"I thought you might know something."

"Why should I?" I asked, puzzled.

"Care to tell Miss Vision how you found out about our firm?" he addressed the man in the suit.

"We were sent this way by the Mayor," the man said.

Demetrius? This made no sense. He wouldn't risk getting my firm in trouble even if only because he wouldn't live to hear the end of it. "One second…" I murmured and fished the cell phone out of my purse. _Since when are you sending clients my way without telling me about it?_ I texted him.

A text came back right away. _Faulty clone._

I almost chuckled. Of course, Demetrius wasn't talking about himself, but despite his vanity and higher goals, he did have a soft spot for clones in need. He'd fought so hard to provide a good life for them in the city that it was almost easier to get a job if you were one. At least the employers could be sure they were healthy and good looking. This was what it had come to…

But this changed things. I narrowed my eyes at the visitors. The man who'd done all the talking so far seemed to be in charge, so I doubted it was about him. I turned my attention to the other man, who stood back, leaning against a cabinet. His green eyes peered back at me.

"You're a clone," I said, though there was a hint of a question in my voice.

"You don't recognize me? I'm hurt." A smile twisted his lips, making dimples appear in his cheeks, which was ridiculous for a man in his forties.

"Sorry, I don't have time to stay up to date with everything that's on TV these days," I replied. He wasn't bad looking, could be any actor on any series, but I had a feeling we might have a problem with his attitude.

"Yes, and you've never been a big fan of Lost," he said.

Yes, definitely an attitude problem. But how did he know that?

"Not to worry, I'm not him." He smirked. "I'm Gabriel Vaughn. I used to work for CyberCom."

CyberCom. Nope, it didn't ring any bell. But he had volunteered his name, and that was a progress. Sometimes with clones, you had to work like they were stray dogs, ready to bite you unless you showed them the right amount of kindness. Okay, let's do this.

"What is your problem, Mr. Vaughn? How may I help you?"

"Gabriel is fine."

I nodded. "Well?"

"I'm still thinking … I don't have all the data yet."

Hmm, still not making much sense. "Look, I have a house full of clones, and they're all living happily at home." More or less. "I'd never do anything to hurt you … if I can't help you, I'll try to find someone who can, and then you'll decide what you want to do."

He just stared at me.

"You either trust me or you don't."

He blinked and shook his head. "Sorry, this is really a pain … I'm done. She'll do."

"Great. I'll let you handle this then." My partner patted my shoulder and rushed out the door. Coward. He'd started flinching the moment I mentioned clones.

"Are you sure about this?" the man in the suit asked.

"Yeah … you can come and pick me up at noon. Miss Vision has a lunch scheduled at one."

The suit guy frowned, obviously not happy with the arrangement, but started for the door. "He'll tell you where to send the bill."

I waited for the door to close before asking, "So, are you a stalker or what?"

"You wouldn't be in a room alone with me if you believed that." Gabriel grinned and pulled a chair. "I have a problem. In canon, I had a chip in my brain that allowed me to connect to the information grid."

"Okay…"

"In this life, I still have the chip, but I don't have a maintenance team."

"And the chip is acting up," I said.

"Yes."

Now we were speaking my language. I pulled a chair and sat down, facing him. "Okay, tell me what happens."

"It's still doing what it's supposed to do, but the render module is activating by itself at random times. It's been doing it for about two weeks now."

"What does a render module do exactly?" I asked him.

"It paints a picture in my mind. A static image, visual only, but I can walk through it."

That sounded rather cool actually.

"I use it often in my work, and it helps a lot. But now…" Gabriel shook his head. "When I use it, I'm still in contact with the outside world. I can hear, feel, and communicate. But when it starts by itself, all the contact is cut off. And I can't stop it. I have to wait for the module to disconnect."

"I see how that can be a problem," I said. "How long does it last?"

"From a few seconds up to a minute or two. It's quite an inconvenience, especially if I happen to be walking in the street. I haven't driven a car in two weeks."

"Any idea what causes the glitch?"

"None." Gabriel shook his head. "I ran all possible cross references, and there's no common occurrence. It's random as far as I can tell."

"Hmm. Okay." I got up. "Let's step into my office and take a look."

"Not here."

"Excuse me?"

"There are seventeen security breaches in this building. I'm not opening myself to such a threat."

I grimaced. "That many?" I had only been aware of six, but I hadn't bothered with them because there was nothing in the building worth going through all that trouble. And no one would have dared to do it. Living with the Mayor had its perks. "Okay, then that leaves my place. I have enough hardware there to make it work, and if it doesn't, we can always go through Del or Cammie."

"Did you name your computers?" Gabriel asked with a smirk.

"Oh, so you don't know everything." I smirked back.

He blinked. "I stand corrected. They're your walking and talking pieces of hardware."

"Well, technically, I think you can pass for their grandfather. But I wouldn't mention that to Cammie. She might kick your ass."

"Roger that." He held the door open for me. "You'll have to drive."

"Of course." I rolled my eyes as I led the way to the parking lot in the back of the building. Now I was his driver too.


	2. Chapter 2

Half an hour later, we made it to my home office without having Gabriel eaten by Jaffar, trampled over by the dogs, or bitten by Stitch. The blue ball of fur was particularly miffed because he'd pulled out his antennas, but the guest still hadn't answered. Apparently, Gabriel's chip wasn't advanced enough to communicate on alien frequencies.

"Quite a zoo you have here," he commented while settling in a large armchair in front of my desk.

"Tell me about it. You should see the pets too. I think there's still a Yetti lodging in the garden." I smirked as I turned on the desktop computer.

Thomas brought in a tray with coffee and placed it on a small table near the armchair. "Is there anything else Your Ladyship requires?"

Behind him, Gabriel raised his eyebrows at me and mouthed the word "Ladyship?"

I ignored him and smiled at Thomas. "Thank you, Thomas. That will be all for now." Then I raised my voice. "Del, you can come in!"

The NS-5 robot shyly peeked in from the doorway. "Are you s-sure you need me in there, Mistress? I don't want to g-get in the way."

"Sure, come in!" I waved a hand at him. "This is Gabriel—"

"I know who he is." Del took two large steps in and made it to the middle of the room where he froze with his metal hands knotted under his chin as he stared at our visitor. "He's gorgeous!" He swooned like a teenager, and his optic eyes glowed brighter. "May I hug him?"

Gabriel looked like he was considering climbing on top of the armchair. Or running. Or both.

"Suddenly regretting we didn't do this at the headquarters?" I teased him.

He gave me a stern look and forced his body to relax. "I was simply taken by surprise, that's all. Will a handshake do?" He held out his hand.

Del took it in both of his and shook it vigorously. "It's such an honor…"

"I'm not sure why … but okay." Gabriel grinned, obviously enjoying to see Del fluster and bat inexistent eyelashes at him.

"Del, Gabriel has a chip in his brain and—"

"I _know_. It's fascinating. The next step in the human evolution is right here in my office."

Gabriel puffed his chest out at being called the next step in the human evolution then looked questioningly at me. "_His_ office?"

"He's cleaning it." I shrugged my shoulders. "Anyway, Gabriel needs help with the chip, and I was thinking you might like to stick around and help if needed," I told Del.

"Absolutely! I'd love to!" Del clapped his hands, excited.

"Quietly?" I suggested.

"Very quietly. You won't even know I'm here." He went to stand in a corner and watched us from there.

"Well, now that we got this out of the way, how do I get in?" I turned to Gabriel, my fingers itching to run through his short hair and look for that chip. If there was one. There better be, or I would feel really stupid if I let those dimples fool me into believing his delusions. "Is there an entry port or something?"

Gabriel gave Del one suspicious look before answering, "Nothing like that unless you want to open my skull."

"Let's save the bloody parts for last," I said. "Is there another way?"

"You do it the same way I do it. Wirelessly."

"Ah. That makes sense, I guess." I turned the keyboard and the monitor so I could see both Gabriel and the screen at the same time. "Okay, let's see what we have here…" I murmured to myself and launched the net sniffing software. "Can you access my computer?"

_Of course I can, _the writing appeared on the screen.

I tried not to frown, not exactly thrilled with this development, but the established connection allowed the computer to locate him as well, so that was a good thing. Now how to get in. I tried everything I could think of, but Gabriel's chip remained a locked shell to me.

"I can't get in. How am I supposed to run the diagnosis if I can't get in? You have to let me in," I told Gabriel, getting frustrated with his chip. And him.

"It's not that simple." Gabriel pressed his lips tightly together and thought for a moment. "I can't just let information in. There are several protocols that prevent it. I can retrieve information from any power enabled storage medium, but I can't process it. I do all the data work outside, and then I see a glimpse of the result and my brain memorizes it because there simply isn't any space dedicated to storage on the chip. It's a change from canon, but I learned to work around it."

"So, I can't run any code on the chip. It's only a gateway between your brain and the outside world."

"I'm afraid so. I guess they didn't want to make me too powerful when they cloned me."

_Well, that blows._ I resisted sighing out loud and instead tapped my fingers on the desk, trying to think of another option.

Gabriel poured himself a coffee.

"Okay, let's exchange data then," I said. "Consider this computer your playground. Run searches on it, do cross references, whatever you want, just don't delete anything. We'll see how it goes…" Maybe if something in the exchange felt off, we could figure out what part of the chip to target next.

"This will take a while, won't it?" Gabriel asked.

"Probably."

"Then unplug everything except for the power cord. Your computer is well protected, but I don't want to take any chances while I'm in there."

"All right." I went behind the desk and removed the handful of wires. "Okay, go." No reaction. "Hello?" I tried again.

"I'm already in, reading the novel you're writing." He grinned. "It needs more tension. Life isn't as pink as you describe it."

"Maybe I'm just able to see bright colors where there isn't any," I said. "Now stop playing and get to work."

"Two more pages. Okay, I'm done."

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to the data traffic. When I tried to access the packages, only gibberish appeared on the screen. "This is encrypted."

"What did you except? I don't want anyone to see what I'm looking for."

"Well, there isn't any porn in there so…"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Gabriel chuckled.

I shook my head and dropped the subject. "The thing is I can't break the encryption on this machine, it's too advanced. Can you turn it off for a while?"

"No, I can't do that." He watched me expectantly as if I held all the answers.

Which I didn't, unfortunately.

"So, we can't get in, we can't break the encryption…" I muttered, staring at the computer, and wondered why I was using the plural when I was the one doing all the work. Not to mention that Gabriel had access to all the information stored in the house. The guys were going to scold me for allowing this to happen. I knew next to nothing about this guy.

"What do you do for living?" I asked him.

"I work for a security company in Havensport. It's bigger than the one your guy works for, and the jobs are higher risk, but nothing like I used to do in canon."

"Any family?"

"No—" Gabriel paused, rubbed his eyes, and continued, "—I live alone. They trust me enough not to give me a handler this time." He forced a grin, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Was that the render module?"

"Yes."

I checked the monitor. "I don't see any change in the traffic."

"The chip keeps working. It's my brain that gets disconnected."

"Ah … I'd like to see what happens during those times. Del, come over here."

Del emerged from his corner and came to stand by the desk. I opened his head and plugged it to the computer. "We have a data flux coming from Gabriel," I told him. "I want you to break the encryption if you can."

"Yes, Mistress."

"What happened to 'Ladyship'?" Gabriel asked.

"Del isn't so much into Royalty. He comes from the future."

Del giggled. "Oh, that tickles."

"Did you just get inside his head?" I turned to Gabriel.

"Yes, but I don't understand any of it."

"I don't either, so please don't break him. I might not be able to fix him if you do."

"Are you kidding? I could catch something in there and have no idea I did." Gabriel shuddered.

"He's virus free as far as I can tell," I said. "His glitches come from faulty connectors and deprecated equipment. Hmm." Now there was a thought. "When did you last have the chip checked?"

"Never?" Gabriel's eyebrows rose on his forehead. His eyes were very green in this light.

"No checkups, updates, upgrades, nothing at all?"

"This technology hasn't been invented yet," Gabriel said. "I couldn't do anything to check it if I wanted to."

And he didn't any of it, that part was clear.

"Encryption broken," Del said.

"Great. Can you do it in real time?" I asked him.

"Now that I know how, yes, I believe I can," Del said. "There will be a 0.000000015 second delay, but I don't think it will matter."

"Good, then check his output and see if you can find a pattern, something that's out of place or missing."

The light in Del's eyes flickered, a sign that he was working on it already.

"Gabriel, please turn the render module on and send out what you see."

While Del worked in silence, Gabriel rose from the armchair and walked around the office.

"That's so pretty." Del sighed. "I've always wanted to go to Greece."

"Greece?" I asked Gabriel.

He pointed at a framed photo displayed on a shelf. "I used that for the render module."

It was a photo taken while on vacation with Demetrius in Greece. The Thessaloniki waterfront spread behind me, bathed in a beautiful sunset. At least I was wearing clothes and not my swimming suit.

"Anything?" I asked Del.

"No, but … there is something off … when he sends out images … they're distorted somehow … the data packages are out of order at times as if something doesn't work right. It's not obvious in the big pictures, but if you look at the pixels, it's there."

That was what I feared. I propped my hip against the edge of the desk and lowered my head. "I'm sorry, the best I can tell you is that there's a problem with the chip. If nothing has changed in the software department, and problems suddenly appear, it's usually a technical problem."

"Can you fix it?"

I had to laugh at Gabriel's naiveté. "I'm not an engineer. I know how to put together a computer, and bigger devices if they come with instructions, but this is where my expertise ends. I don't know how all that works." I gestured to his head.

"I…" Del lifted a finger. "I might be able to fix it. I mean if I can get a look at it … I put Cammie back together, and she's more complex than I am. I promise not to do anything to damage the chip."

I turned my eyes from Del to Gabriel. "I trust him, but I can't guarantee the result. We don't know what we'll find in there. This is your call."

Gabriel cracked his neck. "Well, it doesn't look like I have a choice … So, we have an engineer. Where can we find a doctor to open me up?"

"Dr. Chase is not on call today," Del said. "I'm sure he'd be happy to help. It's his job."

"I don't know … Chase care a lot about his practice license, and I assume you don't want to do this in the hospital?" I asked Gabriel.

"Not a chance."

"I thought so," I muttered and ran a hand through my hair. The gesture made a few locks escape the pins that held them back so I removed the pins completely and dropped them on the desk. "Right. Okay. I'll talk to Chase. But this might take a while. First, I need to convince him, and then we need to put together a sterile room for the surgery."

"I need 1.23 hours for the room," Del said. "I could do it faster, but the delivery guy is too slow, and I don't have all the necessary cleaning products here. Plenty of time for you to talk to Dr. Chase."

"You really want to get your hands on that chip, don't you?" I smiled teasingly at Del.

"Just show him that smile, and the good doctor will agree to anything," Gabriel said.

I frowned at him and muttered, "You obviously don't know Chase. If he liked me any more, he'd run away for the hills, screaming."

A knock on the door announced Thomas's presence and the door opened, but he waited in the doorway. "There's a call for you on the main phone line, Your Ladyship. Your phone is not working."

"My phone?" I reached for my purse only to find it turned off.

"Sorry, that was me," Gabriel said. "I didn't want any interruptions."

Or interferences, it seemed. I glared at him then gasped when I saw the time. "Oh, damn, I had a lunch at—"

"Now you're free to see the doctor."

I seriously considered throwing something to wipe that smug grin off of Gabriel's face. But no, I had a lot of experience with cocky clones, I wouldn't lose my temper that easily.

"Thank you, Thomas. Del, put yourself together. And you—" I turned to Gabriel, "—leave your business card, and we'll let you know when everything's ready. Now everyone get out."

"Yes, ma'am." Gabriel just had to have the last word.

I refused to roll my eyes until he was out of my sight.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, what do you need?" Chase asked.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and glanced around the coffee shop. Alec was charming a waitress in a corner, pretending he wasn't there to keep an eye on me. I couldn't go anywhere without having at least one of my guys watching my every move. I turned my eyes away from him. Since Chase had the day off and I couldn't just show up to his door, not to mention that I didn't know where he lived, I had called him and asked him out to have a coffee downtown. I had been a little surprised when he agreed to meet right away.

"Why do you have to automatically assume that I need something?" I muttered, staring down into my cappuccino. The problem was I did.

"Maybe because you haven't said a word to me since you cried in my arms at the New Year's Eve party?" He drank a sip of coffee, but his blue eyes never left me.

"That's not true," I said. "I talked to you."

"You said 'hello' and 'goodbye' when I came for Gary's weekly check up but not much else."

I bit on my lower lip. Maybe he was right. I had been rather distant while still unable to stay away. I couldn't, I cared too much about Gary's welfare. Well, that wasn't the only reason, but this wasn't supposed to be today's topic of conversation.

"Okay, so I'm a bitch." What else was new?

"You can also add to the list owing me a shirt as you smeared mascara all over the front of the one I was wearing," Chase said.

"I never wear mascara. You don't know your make-up."

"That's because I don't wear any. But don't change the subject."

"Fine, I owe you a shirt." I wondered if he would let me take him hoping. Not in a million years. Too intimate.

"You also made me miss out on a midnight kiss," Chase said.

I fiddled with my cup and watched him from underneath lowered eyelashes. "That's not the way I remember it."

"You call that a kiss?"

Come on, it hadn't been that bad. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Okay, a kiss too." Though I would probably have to tie him down to make him accept it. The thought brought wry amusement to my face. "Can we continue this game later and focus on serious matters for a minute?"

Chase smiled and drank from his cup. "What do you want?"

"I have a clone with a faulty chip in his brain," I told him.

"Oh. You got another one?"

I rolled my eyes at him and the casual way he'd said it. "He's not one of mine. He was sent to me to fix it, but the technology is too advanced and I can't do it from the outside. I need access to it, possibly remove it, fix it if I can, and then put it back in."

"Because he can't live without it?" Chase asked.

"I'm not sure about that," I said. "He does seem to like it." Too much maybe. "But he can't have a fulfilled life the way it is now. Whenever the chip acts up, there's a good chance for something bad to happen to him or those around him."

Chase frowned. "Does he get psychotic or something? Shouldn't he be in the hospital?"

"Nothing like that … or at least I don't think so." I shook my head, confused. "Look, I don't know exactly how it works. I just met the guy today. But if there's a slim chance to help him…"

Chase tilted his head. "What if you can't?"

"I don't know. He'll have to decide for himself." I shrugged a shoulder. "We only help with the parts that we can. Isn't that how it works?"

The same waitress who'd been exchanging pleasantries with Alec earlier stopped by our table to ask if we wanted more coffee. I chased her away with a glare. Chase didn't seem to mind, so I reached for his hand to bring his attention back to me.

He didn't retrieve his hand, but his jaw was set when he held my gaze. "Why do I feel like there's a catch?"

Here we go. "He doesn't want to go to the hospital. He's paranoid about people getting into his head."

"Arrgghhh…" Chase leaned against the backrest of the chair and tossed his head back. "Seriously? Do you know what you're asking me to do?"

"Yes?" I answered hesitantly in a small voice.

"We'll need a sterile room and equipment—"

"Del's working on getting everything ready," I said quietly.

"—and even if we have all that, we're talking about brain surgery here. What happens if he dies on the table? What if I maim him for life? This isn't a TV show where everything ends well in the end. There are risks…"

"Look, I wouldn't come to you with this, but you're the best surgeon in the hospital. Maya is away again, and the only other doctor I could trust turned his own son into a living shell."

He gave me a long look.

"Please. I would never do anything to get you into trouble," I said with a little more determinationand desperation than I had intended. "If it goes bad, we'll make everything disappear. No one will ever know you were involved."

"God," he groaned, "stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" I pulled back, hurt by his reaction.

"Like I'm the only person that matters in the whole world."

But he was the only person that mattered right this moment. I bit my lip and looked away. I could never get it right with him, probably never would. "You don't have to do it for me," I said with a resigned sigh. "Do it to save the patient."

"I don't know if this can save him," Chase said. "I haven't even seen the X-rays yet."

"I don't know if we can do X-rays because of the chip, but I'm sure we can figure out a way to look inside his head." My phone beeped. Del's message consisted of one word: _Ready._ A second later, another message arrived. _Bring the Doc. _This one hadn't been sent by Del. I gritted my teeth and got up. "So, you'll do it?"

Chase rose from his chair at a much slower pace and dropped some money on the table. "I only agree to take a look. If it's doable…" He nodded. "Yeah, I'll do it."

"Yay!" I squeaked like a little girl and refrained at the last moment from hugging him. That wouldn't have been appreciated, even though he might have let it pass since we were in public. "Shall we go now?"

"You haven't finished your cappuccino," Chase said.

I glanced back at the barely touched cup waiting on the table. It was cold by now, but I picked it up anyway and drained it in one long gulp. "There. Done." I grinned up at him.

Shaking his head, Chase walked me out of the coffee shop, his hand resting on my back with a familiarity that never failed to unsettle me. As we passed by him, Alec made kissy faces at us.


	4. Chapter 4

Gabriel seemed to have made himself at home in my office. Someone had brought him a tray with a light lunch, and the leftovers reminded me I had skipped mine. I also wondered if it were wise to eat before surgery.

"You're still here," I said, not pleased with the fact.

"I saw no point in leaving since your guys bet you'd be back in half an hour," Gabriel said. "Also, I don't have a car."

"They did, huh? Who won?" I hung my jacket on the back of a chair and rolled up my sleeves.

"Alec did. Chase stalled it to reach the exact 43 minute mark. He's cut is 50%. I like him already." Gabriel smirked.

_Typical_, I thought but couldn't hold back a laugh. So Chase had known he'd come with me from the start and had me beg anyway. This asked for a little payback. Maybe later, after we were done.

I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and gave Gabriel an up and down look. His right ankle tap danced on his left knee. "Nervous?"

"Not really…"

I narrowed my eyes at him in invitation to try harder.

"Maybe a little," he said.

"Chase is a great doctor. You'll be fine."

Gabriel shook his head, making a grimace. "It's not him I'm worried about."

He was talking about the chip. What if it couldn't be fixed? The same question Chase had asked.

"We'll do our best." It was all I could promise him.

Del walked in. "We are ready." He came close to bouncing on his heels in excitement.

"You heard him. Let's get this show started." Gabriel nodded towards the door.

"Wait. Before we go, I have a question." I ran the tip of my tongue over my lower lip. "Are you bi?"

Gabriel watched me with an amused smile on his face that made his dimples visible again. "What gave you that idea?"

"Well, I don't think you're gay, but it's harder to tell with bi people so…" I rolled a shoulder, suddenly uncomfortable to discuss such private matters with him. It wasn't my business whom he'd rather date.

"Just go along with it," Del said, waving a hand. "She's been trying to play match maker for Thomas ever since he came here."

"Thomas? Your butler?" Gabriel arched an eyebrow at me. "He's not gay."

"What? Of course he is."

"Maybe he was in canon but—" He shook his head. "Nope, there's footage of him with women in the city, never with men."

"But … that's … that's …" That was outrageous. To imply that… Still, it would explain why he was never interested in anyone I suggested, and why my guys were chuckling each time I did it. I turned to Del. "Did you know?"

"I…" Blue optics blinked at me, and Del hid behind Gabriel. "He needed a job. It was the only way the family would have accepted him. I ran it by Master Demetrius, and he said it was all right as long as we didn't tell anyone. He wanted a butler really badly. Please don't take away my brain!"

Del's panicked reaction got me laughing against my will. "As you can see, it's a mad house," I told Gabriel, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Are you sure you want to do this? We're probably all just crazy around here." I threw my hands up in the air.

"Are you going to fire Thomas?" Gabriel asked.

"Of course not. Why would I?" I stared at him in wonder. "He's good at his job, Del needs the help, and we would probably get sued for firing him for such a stupid reason."

By the time I finished talking, Gabriel's smile had spread wide. "That's good enough for me." He was still grinning when we left the office.


	5. Chapter 5

"Wow…"

Del had once again outdone himself. He'd turned a room in the north-east corner of the house in a real OR with a hospital bed surrounded by lots of machines and bright lights on top, plus a workbench with his tools in a corner.

Chase and Alec went quiet when we entered the room. I haven't seen Chase wearing green scrubs in a while, but I was more surprised to find Alec there too.

"Do you know who I am?" Alec positioned himself in front of Gabriel. Their eyes were almost at the same level.

After a momentary pause, during which I imagined him querying IMDB for a match, Gabriel nodded. "Yes."

"Then we agree I'm younger, fitter, and have better fighting skill than you do?" Alec asked.

Gabriel tilted his head, a smile curling up the corners of his lips as there was no aggression vibe coming off Alec. "We do?"

"Don't forget that." Alec patted his shoulder and retreated in a corner occupied by two chairs with a pile of magazines lying on one of them. He sat down with a magazine in his lap, lifted his feet on the other chair and ignored us completely. At least he knew how to read.

"Wash your hands with this and put some gloves on." Chase pointed at a plastic bottle waiting on the table next to a stack of latex gloves and a complete set of surgical instruments. "I don't expect to need your help, but we need to be prepared." To Gabriel, he said, "Lay on the bed. Shirt off in case I need to resuscitate you."

My heart beat a little faster at the realization of how dangerous the procedure was. Gabriel's naked torso passed unnoticed, but Del's hands were shaking when he took the shirt as if he'd been entrusted to hold the Holy Grail.

Gabriel lay down with a groan, and Chase brought a scanner close to his head. "Don't move, please."

The image of a brain with a chip implanted on the side appeared on one of the screens. Both Chase and Del studied it for several long seconds.

"I can get to it," Chase said.

"I can't work on it while it's in there." Del shook his head. "It's too close to the brain."

"I can take it out," Chase said. "I don't know if I can put it back in, but I'll know it after I open him. The question is, if the repair takes time, what do I do? Do I close him up and wake him up, or do I keep him sedated?"

"Keep me sedated," Gabriel said.

"And if it can't be fixed? Do I put it back in?" Chase asked.

"Yes," Gabriel said. "That's exactly what you'll do. And then you'll wait until I wake up regardless of how long it takes."

Chase locked eyes with me, and I nodded. It was Gabriel's call.

We watched from a few steps away while Chase set up an IV line and placed a mask on Gabriel's face. Soon the readings on the monitors showed that he was asleep. Chase picked up a scalpel. "The things I do for love…"

"Please don't quote Jaime Lannister," I said tersely, annoyed mostly because he didn't mean it.

"I thought you liked Jaime Lannister." The scalpel cut the skin, leaving a red trace behind.

I rolled my eyes at Chase's back and kept my mouth shut so I wouldn't distract him as this wasn't a good time for an argument.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Del sighed.

I would have agreed despite being constantly annoyed by his behavior, only that Del was looking at Gabriel and not at Chase.

"Arms too big," I said.

"And that face … look at that face."

"Plastic surgery."

"He did _not _have plastic surgery!" Del glared at me.

"Will you two shut up?" Chase asked, a hint of annoyance slipping in his calm, detached voice.

Alec chuckled in his corner.

Seconds passed. Chase opened the incision made in Gabriel's scalp and poked around with tweezers. I winced at each move, hoping he didn't go too deep.

"I've got it," Chase said some time later. He placed the chip with great care on the tray held up by Del. "Your turn now."

I moved on the other side of the bed to supervise Del's work. He handled the chip with steady hands as if he was working with his own brain.

"How long do you estimate it will take?" Chase asked. "I don't want to keep him open too long and risk an infection."

"It's a clean room," Del said, bent over his workbench.

"No, it's not," I said quietly. "Not with us in here."

Del glanced back over his shoulder. "Give me fifteen minutes, and I'll be able to make a proper estimation."

We stood around him while he worked, keeping a healthy distance so we didn't get in the way. Alec tossed the magazine down and picked up the second one from the pile.

"Two hours and twenty-three minutes," Del said.

"Sorry?" Chase asked.

"That's how much time I need to fix it. I found a faulty connector."

"Is that what caused the glitch?" I asked.

"It can be. If there's more, I haven't found it yet. I'll keep looking."

"I can wait. But try to keep it under two hours. I don't like the way the brain activity looks. It could be because the absence of the chip unsettled the brain, but it can also be that it needs the chip for some reason. It's impossible to tell at this point." Chase nodded at me to help him lower the surgeon mask from his face.

I felt clumsy with the latex gloves on and I especially didn't like the way they felt on my skin so I took them off first. Then I reached up, trying not to let my hesitation show, and pulled down his mask. I was welcomed by a grateful smile.

After checking the monitors, Chase straddled a chair, his arms resting on the back of it.

I went back to Del, who it turned out didn't need any help. His metal fingers moved with agility between parts and tools.

"I know, I know, I'm not breaking him," he said when I came too close to peer down at his work from over his shoulder.

"It," I corrected.

"It," Del murmured, lost in his work.

Two hours passed rather fast. Del worked without a break other than to let the parts cool off. I had no idea what he was doing, so I hoped at least he did. When he returned the chip to Chase, his optic eyes glowed brighter than ever. "Done."

By the time Chase finished inserting the chip, closed the incision, and added the last stitch, it had gotten dark outside.

"And we're done," Chase said and let out a deep sigh. He removed his gloves and tossed them in the trash bin. "Two hours for the anesthesia to wear off and then I guess we'll see what happens…"

"Oh, goodie…" Del clasped his hands together. "You two go and have dinner." He waved both hands at Chase and I. "We'll be fine here."

"Yeah, go," Alec said. "I'll make sure the android doesn't do anything inappropriate to his idol."

Del huffed and retreated into his corner.

I led Chase out of the room and to the kitchen. "Do you think he'll be okay?" I asked while we were chewing on hot sandwiches.

"I don't know." Chase raised a shoulder. "I did the best I could. I'm sure Del did too. It's out of our hands now."

"I feel useless," I confessed. "I couldn't do anything to help."

"You delegated responsibility. You brought us all together and made it happen. That's quite an accomplishment."

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Are you saying that just to be nice?"

"When was I ever nice to you? You keep accusing me of being mean." Chase bit on his sandwich and nodded. "You should make up your mind."

That wasn't entirely true. He was nice when he let his guard down, only that it seldom happened. I smiled recalling the New Year's Eve tear-stained kiss. "You and I need to have a serious conversation someday."

"But not tonight."

"Not tonight," I echoed.

Demetrius entered the kitchen, carrying an empty glass. "How's the hush-hush operation going?" he asked on his way to the fridge.

"So far, so good," I answered. "We're waiting for the end result."

"Good." Demetrius refilled his glass and stopped by the table to give me a quick kiss. "I'm working late tonight so no need to hurry up to bed."

Chase's fingers twitched on the table.

Two padded armchairs had been brought into the patient's room in our absence. We settled down, a little puzzled to find only one blanket. The other one covered Gabriel.

"What? You can't share?" Alec asked without raising his eyes from the papers he was studying.

So we did after Chase checked the monitors one more time.

"What are you reading there?" I asked, intrigued to see he'd abandoned the car magazines.

"Gabriel's profile," Alec said.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"I had the guys watch one episode each during the afternoon and take notes. At least there were only seven episodes and not eight seasons," Alec said with a side glance at Chase, who pretended not hear him.

"I'll take a look in the morning," I said and lifted my feet up on the armchair. There was plenty of space.

For now I didn't want to move from that armchair that was so close to Chase. We spoke quietly until late into the night while Alec returned to his magazines and Del plugged himself in to charge his batteries. At some point, I fell asleep, but I felt Chase getting up and checking on Gabriel several times. No change.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey…"

The whisper brought me out of the dream, and I woke up to find Chase's face close to mine. The angle was wrong, and it took me a moment to realize my head was resting on his arm. I twisted my neck and winced at the pain that shot through my back. I was too old to spend a whole night curled up in an armchair no matter how large it was.

"I have to go to the hospital," Chase whispered. "I have the early shift."

"How is he?" I asked, glancing in the direction of the bed where Gabriel's silhouette remained unmoved.

"The same. He'll be out a while longer, so go get some real sleep, okay?" Chase's fingers brushed the hair away from my forehead. He didn't look like he'd gotten much rest either. "I'll come back after four to check on him. Call me if there's any change."

"Okay." I sat up in the armchair and stretched my back while he got up.

"Make sure she rests," Chase told Alec who stood by the window with his arms folded on his chest.

"Hey," I protested weakly. He wasn't even family, and he gave orders like that.

"Relax, Sleeping Beauty won't care if you're here or not, and you heard the doctor." Alec grinned.

I threw him a glare, and kicked the blanket off to accompany Chase on his way out.

When we arrived to the stairs, he pointed up. "The bedroom is that way. I meant it." He dropped a quick kiss on my temple, which took me by surprise, and steered me in the right direction. "I'll see you later."

I mumbled something even I didn't understand and did as told. Sleep came, blurring the image of those blue eyes persisting in my mind and that, at times, was replaced by a pair of green ones.

Four hours later, I returned to the patient's room, showered and reasonably rested, considering that I had woken up every hour to check with Del on Gabriel's condition.

Alec was still there, he was probably going to sleep for a whole week after this adventure, but I also had the surprise to find Cassie in the room.

"What's she doing here?" I asked Alec quietly.

"Reacquainting with her long lost grandfather," he replied.

"Idiot." Cammie glared at Alec then turned to me. "Make him stop or I will."

"Stop what?" I asked.

"He's been flooding my network for hours! It's driving me nuts."

"Oh, you don't need him for that." Alec smirked.

Cammie's glare turned murderous.

"If you want to fight, take it outside," I told them. It wouldn't be the first time that happened, and things ended up broken whenever they did. "Del, is Gabriel sending something?"

"Piece of junk," Cammie spat the words in the direction of the bed, and tossing her long, black hair back, stormed out of the room.

"We'll miss you!" Alec waved cheerfully after her.

"Yes, he is sending something," Del said.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I walked to the bed and looked at Gabriel's asleep face.

"It's only memories fired by his brain, nothing else. I tried to communicate with him, but he didn't answer." Del's voice turned into a whine.

"You don't use the same frequency or protocols even," I told him. "I could barely connect you to my own computer, and half of the data still gets lost on the way. How is he supposed to understand that?"

"But I rerouted everything through the mainframe and sent it via Wi-Fi..."

Still too complex for Gabriel's chip, but that gave me an idea. I reached for my cell phone. If Gabriel was paranoid about his security, chances were he would be listening to any communications taking place in his proximity. I opened a blank message and typed, _Gabriel, are you there?... Gabriel?... time to wake up… is the render module on?_

The last question got a spike in the activity on the monitors.

"It isn't now." Gabriel opened his eyes.

"Yay!" Del squeaked and rushed to the bed. "He's awake!"

Alec took a few steps closer too, but he looked more alert than excited.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. "Any change?"

After a long moment of staring at the ceiling, Gabriel said, "Everything seems to be fine." He sat up in bed, wavering a little.

I reached out to help him keep his balance, but the blanket fell off him, gathering in his lap, so my hand landed on his bare shoulder. "And the render module?"

"It still works." Gabriel shot me a glance from the corner of his eye, and I removed my hand. "I won't know if it's fixed unless it starts by itself again, I guess."

"I did fix it…" Del muttered, squeezing Gabriel's shirt in his hands.

"Well, we'll see about that," I said. "How often did the episodes occur?"

"The short ones—under a second long—four or five times a day lately." Gabriel took the shirt from Del and put it on. "The longer ones—over a minute—maybe every other day."

I nodded. "Then we'll know soon. We have to wait for Chase to give you a check up before you leave anyway."

"I'm fine." Gabriel hopped off the bed.

"I'll believe it when Chase says it," I said.

"So, I'm a prisoner?" Gabriel asked, raising an eyebrow and showing no sign of concern.

"You heard Boss." Alec smirked. "You're not going anywhere until she says so. But can we get out of here?" he asked me. "I'm sick of this room."

"Yes, let's get back into the house," I agreed, having had enough of that room too.

"Well, can this prisoner receive something to eat?" Gabriel asked while we walked in the corridor.

"Yes, yes, food!" Del bounced on his metal toes. "I can make a delicious—" he pronounced a word I had never heard before, which promised a long preparation time and possibly several tries to get it right as it usually happened when he cooked something new.

"I think Gabriel would rather eat now than wait for you to make something," I suggested since he hadn't eaten anything in over twenty-four hours. "There must be something in the fridge you can warm up for him."

"Of course there is." Del huffed and opened the kitchen door to let us enter his kingdom. "You'd think I'm starving you…" he muttered.

We walked in and spread around the table.

"Your Ladyship." If Thomas had stood any straighter, his back would have snapped.

"Relax, we're just here for a late breakfast. Del, is there any cake left?" I asked.

"Worst. Diet. Ever." Del grumbled, but a plate with a slice of cake was slid in front of me.

My eyes kept darting at Gabriel, the questions "Is the render module on? Is it on? Is it on?" on the tip on my tongue. In retaliation, he made eyes at Thomas until poor Thomas threw a towel in the sink and left the kitchen.

"That was mean," I said.

"It's better than you firing him." Gabriel grinned into his coffee.

From what I could tell, he was fine.

"I already said I won't fire him."

"But he doesn't know that."

Gabriel's evil smile made Alec burst into laughter. "Oh, you'll fit right in!" Confronted with the look I gave him, he added quickly, "But don't get your hopes up. We're out of free rooms. I have to live above the garage."

That statement threw me off. Did Alec consider himself as part of the family? And did he really want to move into the house? I would have to talk to him about this later.

For now, we did our best to keep Gabriel entertained without freaking him out until Chase returned. When Chase gave his approval and after they agreed on another appointment later during the week, still at the house, we walked Gabriel to the front door and watched as he got into a black car that had come to pick him up.

"Checking out the competition?" Alec teased Chase.

"Nah … those dimples are leaving. I'm staying." Chase slipped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me back into the house, away from the cold.

I was feeling rather warm already.


	7. Chapter 7

Three days later and one day before the scheduled appointment, Gabriel showed up at the mall while I was shopping for a gift for a friend's birthday. A spring exhibition filled the main hall on the ground floor, and several people walked around the stands that sold artisanal objects.

"I need you to come with me," he said, materializing near me out of nowhere.

He even grinned, so I replied playfully, "You're cute, but you're not _that_ cute."

"On any other day, I might be tempted to take it as a challenge to prove you otherwise, but there's no time. Come on." He took me by the arm and nodded for me to follow him. "This is an emergency. I'm serious."

"Oh. O-kay. Just let me—" I glanced back to where Preston and Robbins were bargaining with a vendor over some leather belts.

"Leave them."

I didn't like the sound of that, but Gabriel was already pulling me towards the elevator and from there to the underground parking, bags still in hand and all.

"Where are we going?" I asked when we got to his car, and he opened the door.

He waited for me to get into the passenger seat first. "I'm kidnapping you," he said and slammed the door.

I inhaled sharply, and after a second of being stunned, I reached for my cell phone.

"Don't bother. I'm blocking your phone." He got into the car on the other side and turned on the engine.

"But … why?" I stared at him like he'd grown a second head.

"I have orders. In my head. I can't _not _obey them. Believe me, I tried. I don't want to do this. But I can't stop." He gave me a desperate glance from the corner of his eye while we left the parking lot. "So don't try anything. I don't want to hurt you, but I can't guarantee I won't if you force me to."

"Okay," I whispered, my heart racing several miles per second.

He didn't say another word until the car pulled up in front of Astoria Hotel.

"Are you kidding me? I can't check in a hotel with you. The press will know it before we reach the room!"

"The security cameras aren't working, and I'm monitoring all communications." He pulled me out of the car and dragged me inside. "No one will know we're here."

Wonderful. I gulped and struggled to keep up with his long strides while still holding onto my bags.

He already had a key card and led me straight to the room.

I dropped the bags on the king size bed and took off my coat. "Now what?"

"We wait," he muttered, pacing the room.

"For what?"

"Orders."

"Gabriel, what is going on?"

"I don't know!" He ran both hands through his hair in frustration. "I woke up this morning, and all I could think of ever since is that I have to do this." He shook his head, disbelief written clearly on his anguished face.

"Is the chip acting up again?" I took a step in his direction, not quite daring to get too close.

"No, I don't think so. It feels different…"

"Different how?" I took another step.

"It feels …" He inhaled deeply. "It feels like the instructions have always been there. They were just waiting for the right time to be run."

So it was a hit. On me. I found that hard to believe. "Come on, I'm not that important," I said in a weak voice. "Who would want to do that? The people who you work for? Those who cloned you? Who?"

Gabriel raised his shoulders. "I don't know." He paced some more.

"Okay, we'll wait then," I murmured and sat on the bed.

But that wouldn't do. I couldn't wait for him to receive more orders and see if he was going to kill me or not. I had to assume the worst. I fiddled with my bags and pulled out a big cardboard box. I opened it and extracted a heavy crystal vase.

"I think I heard it being hit while in the car." I moved closer to the window and held the vase up as if to inspect it for cracks.

A ray of sunshine got caught in the glass pattern and reflected in Gabriel's eye. He blinked, momentarily blinded, and that was when I acted. I hit him in the head with the vase. The crystal broke, cutting my hands, but the blow was strong enough to make him lose consciousness. He fell over me, and we landed on the thick carpet, his face buried in my stomach and his arms squeezing my waist so tight I could barely breathe.

After taking a moment for my head to clear and estimate the damage caused by the fall, luckily no broken bones, I checked on Gabriel. "Hey … Gabriel?" I shook him, but I got no reaction in return and his grip didn't relax one bit. I touched his head and found a lot of blood on a side. He was out cold.

I groaned and considered my options. I couldn't move. He was too heavy for me to push him off even if he weren't holding onto me so tightly. I could have screamed, but I didn't want to get the police or the press involved. Still, I needed help before Gabriel came back to his senses. He wasn't going to be pleased when he did, if his brain still functioned at all. There was a lot of blood soaking his sweater and my blouse, and it hadn't came from the minor cuts on my hands.

Stretching to the left, I reached for my coat, smearing blood on the white fabric in the process, and I dragged it off the bed and to me until I managed to get the cell phone out of the pocket. With shaky fingers, wiped clean on Gabriel's back so I wouldn't dirty the screen, I turned it on. The signal was strong, but no calls passed through. Damn.

I lay back on the carpet and stared at the ceiling. What else could I do? Several seconds passed before I gathered the courage to type on the screen. _Gabriel, are you there?_

My heart beat painfully loud while I waited.

_Yes. I'm here. What took you so long?_

I stared at the message not knowing what to say. _I couldn't get to the phone. You're too heavy._

_Sorry. I can't move. I'm locked in the render module. I don't know how long I can keep it on. The chip knows it malfunctions so we might get away with it for a while._

_Sorry about the head._

_It was a good call. Is that blood yours or mine? _

_Both I think._

_Did the vase break?_

_Yes._

_Damn. Is there anything else you can use to stop me if I wake up?_

I looked around. _Nothing I can get to._

_And you're not armed._

_No._ That thought alone made me sick to my stomach. _Gabriel, let me send a message. I promise nothing will happen to you. We can help you._

_You have no idea what's in my head._

_It doesn't mean we can't try to figure it out._

A long pause.

_Gabriel, please. We can't lay on the floor forever._

Another pause, and then, _Do whatever you need to stop me._

I considered it, and in the end, I texted Chase. _Hotel Astoria. Room 305. Hurry! _I pressed send.

_Thank you. Now we wait._

_If you can't fix it, I want you to remove the chip. This isn't who I am._

_I know._

_Then we're clear?_

_Yes._

_Promise?_

_I promise,_ I murmured the words and ran my fingers through his hair on the side where there was no blood.


	8. Chapter 8

It didn't take long until Gabriel wrote, _Chase's here._

A knock on the door announced his presence a few seconds later.

_Can you unlock the door? _I asked. I couldn't exactly go and open since I had a mountain of a man half lying on top of me.

There was a click, and Chase walked in. "If this is a booty call, I'll really feel silly for alerting—" His eyes landed on me. "Oh, God…" He dropped the bag he was carrying and ran over to kneel by my side. "Where are you hurt?"

"It's mostly his blood, not mine," I told him.

"What happened?" Chase reached to check Gabriel's pulse.

"He's not dead. I hit him with a vase, but he's not dead. How badly is he hurt?"

Chase inspected the head wound. "The bleeding has almost stopped, but it's hard to tell. He'll need X-rays to see if the skull is cracked."

"Can you get him off me?" I asked. "My leg has gone to sleep."

He pulled on Gabriel's shoulder, but the arms wouldn't let go. "This is odd. The muscles should be relaxed when he's passed out."

"He's not exactly passed out," I said. "He locked himself in so he wouldn't hurt me."

Chase stared at me. "You mean he's awake right now?"

"Sort of…"

Shaking his head, Chase retrieved his bag and pulled out a syringe. He filled it from a small bottle and shot Gabriel with it. In a few seconds, Gabriel's arms loosen up enough for Chase to roll his body off me.

"What did you give him?" I asked while Chase helped me get up from the floor. I limped to the bed as needles shot up and down my leg.

"Something to keep him out for a couple of hours," he said.

The door that had remained open was slammed against the wall, and Preston and Robbins burst in.

"What happened?" Robbins asked.

"Gabriel attacked her," Chase said, making a grimace.

"Not quite," I muttered. "_I_ hurt _him_."

Chase ignored me. He put a bandage on Gabriel's head and told the others, "Take him home and restrain him. Watch the head. We'll be home soon too."

Robbins grumbled something about "ungrateful bastards" while he and Preston picked up Gabriel and carried him out of the room.

I got up to follow them, but Chase stopped me. "Show me your hands."

"It's nothing…"

"I'll be the judge of that." He steered me towards the table and made me sit on a chair.

He frowned at my hands and disappeared into the bathroom only to return with a wet towel. As he wiped away the blood, it became clear that my fingers were untouched, but two cuts crossed my right palm and one my left.

"Can we do this at home? I want to get out of here." I glanced warily at the pieces of broken glass and blood stains on the carpet.

"You will when I'm done here," he muttered. "This will sting a little." He sprayed something over the cuts from a can he'd brought in the bag.

I winced and gritted my teeth. He was still glaring as he wrapped my hands in clean bandages.

"Are you mad at me or something?" I asked, flexing my fingers.

He tossed the rest of the bandages in the bag and snapped it shut. "I'm so mad I could throttle you," he gritted between clenched teeth.

I stared at him, startled by his outburst.

"Do you have any idea how it feels to run all the way here after receiving that cryptic message and then find you lying on the floor, covered in blood?" His eyes shot daggers at me.

"I-I'm sorry. I couldn't think of anyone else to call. My guys would have taken it badly … and he needed a doctor," I finished lamely.

"I don't care what he needs! This isn't about him!"

"Then what is it about?" I asked in a little voice, cowering in my chair. I had never seen Chase so furious.

"You." He put his hands on his hips and drew in a long breath. "I can't do this."

I gaze up at him, not knowing what he meant but having a bad feeling about it. Since he just stared at me for a long moment, I squeezed my hands into fists to stop them from shaking.

Then he shook his head and sighed. "What do you want from me? Do you want to break me? Well, here I am. Broken. I hope you're happy." He turned his back on me and stared out the window into the square.

"Robert, I…"

Chase's shoulders tensed as people rarely called him by his first name.

I tried again. "I never meant to hurt you, or scare you … I didn't think." I bit my lip. It was hard to talk to his back, but somehow easier than when his blue eyes fixated me. "You're always so calm and collected … I didn't think it would affect you this much. I just thought that, no matter what it was, you'd fix it." I winced, realizing how much I trusted him and relied on him.

"You thought I didn't care." He glanced pensively at me over his shoulder.

I put on a sad smile. "I know you like me, but you don't want me. Or you don't want to want me, which is pretty much the same thing."

"It's not the same thing."

"Okay, it's not, but the fact remains that you resent me for being a Mistress."

He didn't deny it.

"We've been at this game for what—two years? You'll never accept me for what I am, and I don't want to force you. I know when I'm beaten." I lowered my eyes to the floor and rolled a shoulder. "It's why I tried so many times to stay away from you." I hadn't quite succeeded, but I had tried because I wanted the best for him and I knew I wasn't what he wanted. "I don't know what your Mistress did to you to make you hate us all so much, but this is one thing about me that I can't change."

"I never had a Mistress."

The words fell like a bomb, and I had to quickly recompose my face before he turned around to face me.

"This old lady had a bad heart and needed constant supervision. Somehow having her personal doctor on call 24/7 made sense, so there I was." Chase ran a hand through his blond hair. "There was nothing going on between us. I had a fling with her granddaughter, but when the old lady died, she didn't want to assume responsibility. Ever since, I've been meeting with their lawyer once a month and assured him over lunch that I had a job, a roof over my head, and I stayed out of trouble."

"That's when you took the job at the hospital," I said, and he nodded.

"I never had a Mistress. I don't know how it feels to have one. Maybe there's something wrong with me, but no one ever wanted me." His hands fell defeated by his side.

My heart ached to see this vulnerable side of him. I had never understood his reasons for keeping his distance, but now I did. Underneath it all, he was afraid of being discarded when he wasn't needed anymore. I cursed his old Mistress for ingraining those insecurities into him. "Someone does," I said quietly. "And there's always be one door open for you. But I can't make that decision for you." I stood up on shaky legs and walked towards him.

Chase took my bandaged hands and held them gently in his. "I told you I'm already broken. I never stood a chance from the first moment you set foot into my office. Do whatever you want with me."

Encouraged by the twinkle in his eyes, I stepped on my toes and kissed him. His arms circled my waist, pulling me closer, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers finding their way into his hair.

"Are you sure you're not going to change your mind?" I whispered against his lips, convinced that it would break my heart if he did.

"No. I don't know about you, but I think two years are enough of courtship and drama. It's time for some peace."

I held him tighter, happy to hear him say that.

We stayed like that a while longer, kissing and holding each other, until Chase said, "How about we go home now and fix that poor bastard?"

"Uh, well, I'm not sure I can fix him," I said, reluctant to leave his arms. "And he's not a bastard. It was the chip that—"

"Do you want to argue or go home to find a bed?"

"Home it is," I said after the slightest hesitation.

Chase grinned. "I thought so."


	9. Chapter 9

"Good thing you're back!" Alec met with us on the front steps. "Sleeping Beauty is up."

"Already? How can he be up?" Chase rushed up the steps. "The tranquilizer should have kept him asleep for at least another hour."

"Well, he's not exactly up," Alec said, "but unless we're dealing with a poltergeist here, he blew up all the lights in the house."

"So, the chip is still running," I said as I followed them inside.

"I don't know what's going on, but Del is freaking out." Alec stopped in the middle of the corridor when we wanted to turn to the right. "Not there. Over here." He nodded in the opposite direction.

"Where did you put him?" I asked.

"The dungeon."

"What dungeon? We don't have a dungeon."

"Okay, fine. The basement." Alec rolled his eyes. "But ours is way cooler than the Salvatore brothers'." He smirked at Chase.

"I swear I don't know anything about any dungeon," I whispered to Chase. And just when things were going so well between us.

Down in the basement, a small compartment had been turned into a prison cell. Gabriel was tied up to a bed, still unconscious by the look of it, and surrounded by several pieces of hardware and not much else. Del was one of them.

"Mistress, the chip is sending out signals on all frequencies," he reported.

"It's trying to communicate with someone," I said, checking the data on the screens. "The host is unusable so … Can it break the house protection?"

"Not yet, but it surely is trying. I built this machine to jam the signal." He showed me the machine next to him. "But … it might hurt him. And the robotic laws don't let me use it."

As a robot, he had built-in protocols that didn't allow him to hurt people. It looked like I would have to do that. I locked eyes with Chase, and when he gave a short nod, I turned the switch. The lights flickered twice, and a moan came from the bed.

"It works," Del said.

It didn't only work, it hurt too if we believed that moan.

"Keep him as comfortable as possible," I told Chase and asked Del, "Did you record what he was sending?"

"Six teras already."

"Encrypted?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, let's take a look and see what it's trying to do." I headed to the stairs and from there to my office to the main computer.


	10. Chapter 10

Chase approached me from behind and rested a hand on my shoulder. I leaned into his touch, having recognized him from the way his feet shuffled on the floor.

"You need to get some rest," he said.

I glared at the symbols that blurred on the screen and rubbed my eyes. "I can't. I have a sick man in the dunge—basement, whatever."

"Maybe you'll think better with a clear head." Chase walked around my chair and leaned against the desk at my right. He folded his arms, his eyes serious. "I don't know how much longer we can do this. The testing time gets shorter each time. Soon, we won't be able to remove it the chip all."

And without access to his chip, Gabriel would be lost.

"I'm not giving up on him," I said stubbornly and looked up at Chase. "He's awake, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he can use a few minutes of peace."

"Did he eat anything today?" I asked.

"Not since the morning."

I glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen. It was close to midnight. "Well, at least he won't throw up on me." I got up, ready for another session while at the same time dreading it.

The walls danced around me, and Chase reached out with both hands to steady me. "Did _you_ eat anything today?"

"Sure." I nodded at the Mars bar wrappings discarded on the corner of the desk.

Chase shook his head. "I don't know who I should be more worried about, you or him."

I smiled, touched by his concern. "I'm fine. I'm stronger than I look."

He didn't argue, but given the way he was looking at me while walking to the stairs, I figured out he didn't quite believe me. Welcome to the club.

I stopped at the bottom of the steps to catch my breath for a moment and considered asking Del to have an elevator installed. I had been up and down those stairs so many times during the past few days that I was sick of them.

"Finally!" Alec said, coming out in the corridor. "He doesn't believe me when I tell him you're fine. And can you fix him already? It's so boring down here."

Stifling a sigh, I left the guys in the corridor and entered the room. "Hello, Gabriel."

He was covered in sweat and shaking, but conscious.

Del pointed discreetly at the monitors. Elevated heart rate and way too much brain activity. Not good.

Gabriel struggled to focus his eyes on me. "You're here."

"Of course I'm here." I gave him an encouraging smile.

His eyes wandered on the bare walls, the machines surrounding him, the restrains, and then shot back at me. "Why am I here?"

"Don't you remember?" I asked, stepping closer to the bed. "Do you know who I am? How we met?"

"I came to you to help me with the chip…"

"Anything else?"

"Not really…" He shifted on the bed and pulled on the restraints.

"Well, we fixed that problem, but apparently it wasn't the only one," I told him. "You're currently running a program that's targeting me, so until we figure out a way to stop it, we can't let you go."

He grimaced and closed his eyes for a moment. "Why can't I remember?"

"Chase said it's either because of the head trauma or because the short term memory gets lost in between reboots."

"Reboots?" He groaned. "Can someone turn off that God damned noise?"

"Sorry, can't do that. You already blew up two computers, one stereo, and twenty-six—"

"Twenty-seven," Del corrected.

"—light bulbs." This whole adventure was becoming quite expensive. "Oh, and if you turn off the hot water while Demetrius is showering one more time, he threatened to kick you out of the house and dump you in a ditch somewhere. I'd pay attention if I were you. He was rather serious."

"No playing with the shower roger that." He winced and groaned again.

Del handed me a wet towel, and I wiped Gabriel's forehead with it. He was burning up.

"Sorry about the pain," I said. "The chip gets pretty vindictive when left on its own. We need to flood it with data to keep it busy."

"You're flooding my brain, too," he said between gritted teeth.

"I know." I winced. "I wish there was a way to separate them, but there isn't. I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my promise."

"Promise…?" His hands clenched and unclenched by his sides.

"You asked me to promise I'll take out the chip if I can't fix it. So far, I can't, but it turns out you can't live without it. You go into shock if it's removed longer than two hours. It used to be four."

"It's getting worse," he said.

"Yes." I sighed and looked away. "The problem is … the chip is useless outside your brain, and while in there, we can't properly access it. So we're down to rebooting you again and again in hope that the program will end or at least _something_ will change. Unfortunately, you're not running Windows so…"

A faint chuckle came from Del's part.

"Then just end it." Gabriel's voice cracked, and his whole body contorted in pain.

I placed a hand on his arm and squeezed it lightly. "There's still time." Not much but…

"What's the point?" He gasped. "They say the whole purpose of life … is to build memories … unlike the last time, now I have them … and what good do they do?" He groaned, and his eyes lost focus. "I won't be used … won't be used … to kill people."

I squeezed his arm and stood by his side while Del sent more and more data packages.

When the groans turned into screams, I ran out of the room and slammed into Chase who was waiting right outside the door. He pulled me into his arms and held me against his chest.

"I can't do this. I can't. It's torture," I mumbled into his shoulder.

Chase rested his head against mine and soothingly ran his fingers through my hair. "You're right. It _is_ torture. But it's the best shot he's got."

"What if it doesn't work?" I whimpered.

"Then … we've done our best."

"And if our best isn't good enough?" I struggled to suppress a shudder.

"What if it is?" Alec asked.

Both Chase and I turned to look at him.

"He mentioned a memory loss," Alec said. "That episode was only aired last night."

"Then how did he—" I gasped. "He lied! He does receive updates."

"Isn't this enough of a breakthrough to beat this sucker?" Alec grinned.

"It could be … if there's a module that connects to the outside world by itself, I can get in." I pulled away from Chase and grinned back. "It must be the same module that receives the orders. There would be too much of a security risk to have two. And if I can locate it, maybe it can be removed. It doesn't seem to be part of the initial design so the chip should still be able to function without it. This might work!" I hugged Chase and yelled, "Del, call Cammie! We'll need her help with this!"


	11. Chapter 11

The room was crowded with people, all skilled fighters with serious combat time in their past, but their presence was needed. The terminator girl lying on the table glared at us as if she wanted to murder us all.

"I don't want to do this." Cammie huffed despite her skull being open and Del already working on her brain.

A few minutes earlier, she'd threatened to rip off Chase's arms if he dared to touch her, so he'd thrown his hands in the air and stepped away.

"Now, now," Del said. "We were created to help people, and this is what we're doing. I don't want to hear another word about it."

"Easy for you to say it," Cammie grumbled. "It's not your brain that's being cut."

"I would happily volunteer my brain, but it doesn't have enough organic matter to mimic a human brain."

"Fools. He's going to kill you all." She didn't sound like she would have minded that.

Lucky for us, and not so lucky for Gabriel, we were past the phase where that could have still happened.

"All this talk about brains is making me hungry," Alec whispered beside me.

"But yours does," Del continued, ignoring all the muttering. "You can even copy Gabriel's mutation and trick the chip into thinking it's still in his head. You're wonderful."

"I don't think she needs any more praises. She's vain enough the way it is," Alec said.

"Shut up." I hissed at him.

"I'm ready, Dr. Chase," Del said. "If you care to give me the chip…"

Chase handed him the chip, and Del inserted it into Cammie's brain.

"How does it feel?" Del asked.

"Awful," Cammie blurted out. "There are no protocols to filter the data. Everything pours in."

"Cut the jamming signal," I told Del.

He turned off the switch on the machine. "And now?"

Cammie's body visibly relaxed. "Better."

"Okay, Cammie, I want you to reset your internal clock to the next date the show airs," I said.

"I don't want to," she whined. "It's next week. I'll be a week older, and I'll miss my birthday."

"It's all right. You'll set it back when we're done."

"And we'll make you a big cake." Del patted her shoulder.

"Hmpf."

We waited. Chase checked the time, obviously concerned for his human patient who waited with his head open in the bed nearby. We didn't have much time.

"Did a port open?" I asked.

"Yes," Cammie said.

"Do you receive anything?"

"There's a small data stream coming in."

"What does it contain?"

"Orders."

"Can it take control over you?"

"Not a chance."

I let out a relieved breath. That had been our main concern. A terminator out of control wasn't something we were looking forward to deal with.

"Okay. Can you identify the module in charge with the communication?"

"Yes."

"Can you locate it on the chip, please?"

The structure of the chip appeared on the screen, and the left side corner lit up.

"We can remove it, right?" I checked with Del.

"It doesn't seem to be a problem." The NS-5 robot nodded.

"Great. Take out the chip and let's get to work. We only have twenty minutes left."

"Wait," Cammie said.

"Cammie, this is not the time to—"

"You told me we were built to help people. Let me help her."

Every pair of eyes in the room turned to me as I was the only other her there aside from the terminator girl.

"Okay, but hurry or we'll lose Gabriel," Del said. "He needs our help too."

"Twelve seconds … done. Take it out."

Del did, and Cammie stood up. On the back of her head, her skin was closing by itself.

"You, you, and you." She pointed at Preston, Robbins, and Alec. "Come with me."

"What about me?" Jim shouted at her back.

"You're crazy," she said over her shoulder and walked out of the room.

The guys followed her.

"Can we hurry?" Chase asked. "The initial estimation might have been too optimistic. It looks like he'll be seizing soon."

"I'm working as fast as I can," Del said, bent over his workbench where he cut and remodeled the chip.

Ten minutes later, he was still working.

"Del, come on," I murmured.

"I'm losing him here!" Chase yelled from the other room.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Del blew over the chip as he rushed to him. "Here it is. I hope it's not going to fry his brain."

Chase inserted the chip, and we all watched the monitors, holding out breaths. The seizing stopped, and soon the tremors did too. Chase closed him up.

"Do you get anything?" I asked Del.

"Not one byte."

"He's sleeping," Chase said and grinned at me. "We should too."


	12. Chapter 12

It felt eerie to wake up in bed with Chase. My bed, my room, my sheets. We had gone straight upstairs after the previous night's breakthrough and collapsed onto bed, exhausted. I had fallen asleep before he even put his arms around me. A whole night wasted. Gabriel would be awake soon. Maybe some things just weren't meant to be.

But as I stared at his relaxed, sleepy face, I couldn't find the strength to pull away and go and do what needed to be done. I ran my fingertips on his forehead, along the bridge of his nose, and over the faint scar on his left cheek. He smiled when I touched his lips, and his eyes opened.

"You're still here," he murmured.

"Where else could I be?"

"I don't know. I thought it was a dream." He propped himself on one elbow and looked down at me. "You haven't changed your mind?"

"Have you?"

"Well, the guy in the basement is rather hot…"

He smirked when I playfully slapped his shoulder. Then my fingers curled up around his arm and glided towards his neck, and he stopped smiling. He took my hand in his and placed a kiss on top of the bandage covering my palm. Then his eyes turned to my face and his lip parted.

"I think you're about to discover it's very hard to make me change my mind," I said, "assuming you didn't know that already. I think there's even an AA-like type of meeting for those who had to suffer from it—"

His lips met mine, and I forgot what I was about to say.

Much later, after we finished making love and Chase fell back to sleep, I left the bed, showered, dressed, and went downstairs.

Del was waiting in the main hall. "Mistress…"

"Is he up?" I asked.

"Yes, but … I ran a simulation based on the data provided by Cammie, and the probability is 86% in favor of—"

"I know."

"You know?" Del took a step back and blinked at me.

"Yes. It's fine." I started towards the door leading to the basement.

"It's definitely not fine," Del muttered one step behind me in one of those rare moments when he openly disagreed with me.

"Well, it's going to be." I opened the door but then stopped and gave Del a pointed look. "Lock the door and don't let anyone in."

"Okay ... For how long?" Del's eyes flashed in panic.

"Until I come out."

I stepped into the dim lit corridor and pulled the door closed after me, in time to hear Del ask, "What if you don't?"

I didn't want to think about that. As I walked down the steps, I thought that maybe I should have postponed sleeping and watched those episodes last night. But action shows left little room for character development, and Gabriel could be a whole different person for what I knew. It wouldn't have helped. And I needed a clear head for this.

How do you break a person's programming when you don't have access to the code? I knew from experience that one could break clones with love. Sometimes it took a while, see Chase, but they all broke in the end. Unfortunately, there was no time to establish an emotional connection here. I had barely spoken to the guy twice then I had cracked his skull with a vase and tortured him for days, even if he didn't remember all of it. This couldn't possibly work in my favor.

It looked like I would have to play it by ear. Improvisation could be a lot of fun and great stimulation for the brain but not so much when one's life was at stake. Mine._ Here goes nothing._ I put on a smile and opened the cell door.

Gabriel was just putting on his shirt. "Does everyone sleep so late in this house?" He stretched the fabric over his abs.

"We're a lazy bunch," I said. "Chase is still sleeping, but he'll come soon to check on you."

"Del didn't let me out." There was an edge in his voice when he said that.

"He has a problem with understanding orders sometimes. His brain is rusty." I shrugged as I circled the room and turned off all of the machines left on. I wasn't sure why they were still working, but I decided against asking. "I hope he at least fed you."

"Oh, yes, that he did." Gabriel nodded at the stack of trays loaded with food placed on the table. They could have fed a small army. "He even offered to bring me cable down here so I wouldn't get bored."

"He can be a little overbearing while in full mother hen mode, but he means well," I said, still moving around the room. I glanced at him. "You look well."

Gabriel grinned. "Thanks."

"It wasn't a compliment. How are you feeling?"

"I'm still getting used to all that empty space inside my head. I have no idea what to do with it."

"It's only fifty teras. There was no time to customize the chip and add more," I said. "You can use it to store memories I guess … and of course, if everything else fails, you can always rely on porn."

"Right." He smirked, but his eyes were watching me on alert.

"Other than that, how do you feel?" I asked. "Any problem with the render module?"

"No."

"Residual pain?"

"I have a headache."

"The hairline fracture in your skull will take a while to heal. Sorry about that." Who knew Bohemian crystal was so hard to break? I turned, and he turned after me predatory-like. "Any other pain?"

"Not really…"

"Confusion?"

"No. Is this an interrogation?"

"Yes."

I held his gaze, and his hands flinched, looking for something to grasp—possibly me.

"Who gave the order to kidnap me?"

"I don't know."

"I think you do. We removed the extra module, so even if you weren't aware of it before, now you have access to everything that's on the chip. You can check if you don't believe me."

His eyes went vacant for a second. "Not entirely true but for the sake of the argument … those who gave the order aren't a threat to you anymore."

So Cammie and the rest of the crew had done their job. They wouldn't tell me what happened, thinking it was better for me not to know, but I had sort of figured it out anyway. I turned my eyes back to the real threat. "But you are."

"What are you talking about?" Gabriel stepped back as I advanced towards him.

"It makes sense," I said. "No one would invest so much money in this—" I pointed with my chin at him, "—and send the chip to be examined with the risk of having the module discovered without implementing a failsafe protocol."

"What's that?" He raised both hands as if trying to protect himself from me. In different circumstances, it would have been hilarious because he was at least one head taller and twice as heavy.

"A bit of coding that makes sure you complete the order and then destroys any evidence that connects you to them."

"How do you know that it's in my head?" His back pressed against the wall. He had nowhere else to go.

"It's how I would do it. I'm usually right." I watched him intently, aware of how his muscles tensed with every breath he took and how deadly they could be.

"Well…" Gabriel tilted his head, his jaw set. "You're wrong."

"I also know because you're afraid that if you touch me, you might snap." Another step forward. Teasing the lion in his own den, so not smart.

"Do. Not. Test. Me." The words came out strained.

"I have no choice." I reached out with my hand.

His throat worked, and he panted. "Why?"

"Because if you hurt me, my guys will suffer." I held his gaze without the slightest hesitation. "No one messes with my guys."

I saw the exact moment when the decision was made. His hand snatched out, gripping my arm, and he turned me around, slamming me against the wall. The air left my lungs with a painful whoosh.

"Too late," he whispered by my ear.

"Not yet." I slammed my elbow back, hard.

The hours spent watching my guys train paid off. Gabriel stumbled backward, clutching his waist. With a little luck, I might have cracked a rib.

I took advantage of his lack of focus and ran away, out of the cell and deeper into the basement. Probably not the brightest idea, but I couldn't go up. Not yet.

"How do I stop?" he yelled as he ran after me.

"You just do. The failsafe protocol is weaker, simpler, and it's not supposed to last long."

"Very helpful, thanks a lot!" his voice echoed along the corridor.

He nearly caught me when I entered the cellar. I turned abruptly around the corner despite his grip on my left hand. Pain flashed in my joint, the shoulder nearly popping out of its socket, and I screamed. Gabriel's grip slipped.

I mentally apologized to Demetrius for his wine collection and grabbed two bottles from a rack. Before Gabriel could pass around the corner, I tossed them his way. One bottle hit him while the other missed its target and exploded at the contact with the wall behind him, spraying him with white wine.

"That's all you've got?"

"I'm not a soldier! I'm improvising!" I ran away and thanked God we didn't keep any weapons in the basement. Or at least he wouldn't find the ones we did. But I couldn't run like this forever. His legs were longer than mine, and even after almost a week of slipping in and out of consciousness, he was still stronger than me. I had planned this all wrong. There wasn't going to be a fair fight. If he caught me, I was dead.

I tossed back more bottles and advanced deeper into the cellar. Where was it? It should be close now. I checked the racks and found the one covered in cobwebs. No one would think to look there unless you knew they were fake. I pulled on the lever on the side. The rack opened like a door, revealing a narrow corridor behind it. I entered it despite the darkness and ran, counting the steps. Light would have made it easier for him to follow me, but I knew my way and had no interested in helping him. This corridor didn't appear on any blueprints he might have access to. Thirty-eight, thirty-nine … I slowed down, not wanting to slam into a wall again.

Gabriel's rough breathing came from close behind me. My hand reached for the metal ladder and I climbed up and held on tight. I waited to hear Gabriel swear when he hit the wall, and then I turned on the wheel to have the door on top open. The metal bit into my hands, but I gritted my teeth and kept turning it until light burst in. Fresh snow fell over me as I crawled outside into a world of blinding white. Something clawed at my leg, but I kicked back and escaped.

I could have locked the door, though it probably wouldn't have taken Gabriel more than a few seconds to break the code, but I didn't. I ran ahead through the snow towards a bright sun. It was still morning, around the time when Jaffar took his walk. If twenty steps earlier in the tunnel I had turned to the left instead of right, I would have ended to the west exit, closer to Logan. But then again, Logan might not have stopped to ask questions before striking. I had more chances reasoning with a tiger. This was nuts.

The cold air, the exhaustion, the panic—they all took away the last of my strength and when Gabriel caught up with me, I was ready to give up. He threw me to the ground and pinned me there. "Now what?" he breathed down my face.

For a second, I was surprised to see the blood on his forehead, but then I screamed, "Now!"

Heavy footsteps pounded on the snow, and Jaffar pounced on us, tossing Gabriel several steps away. Then he lay his half a ton body over him, making it impossible for Gabriel to move, and licked his face.

"Don't hurt him!" I gasped between panted breaths and rolled onto my knees.

Both man and beast stared at me as if not sure who the order was for. Actually, it was for both of them.

"Sorry, we did this wrong…" I said and crawled a little closer. "I thought I'd have more time to explain. "

"Explain what?" Gabriel grunted, trying to push Jaffar off, but of course no success.

"That you can beat the programming, the failsafe protocol…" I tossed the hair away from my face and tried to brush the snow off it.

"How?"

"The mutation that allows your brain to use the chip? You can control what goes in and out through the brain waves. You need to fool it into believing you accomplished your mission."

"I have no idea how to do that." He made another attempt at getting rid of Jaffar and again failed.

"Well, you better figure it out, and sooner rather than later … Do you know what the last instruction of the failsafe protocol is if the time runs out?"

"What?" He glared at me.

"Terminate."

Gabriel let his head back and stared at the clear blue sky. It was a beautiful morning, and it could be his last.

I made myself more comfortable, although my butt was already freezing. "I can sit here all day. We'll probably both catch pneumonia and on top of all receive a good scolding but…"

The look of concentration on Gabriel's face made me shut up. He was at least trying, that was still something. So I waited. Jaffar threw me several glances as if asking when this game was going to continue to the next stage. I shuffled closer and caressed his large head to keep him there.

The relief came when Gabriel let out a big sigh followed by a groan. "I think I did it … But can you get him off me? I think I busted my ribs."

I gestured at Jaffar to move over, and he did.

Gabriel waited a few more seconds before he sat up, wincing. There was blood on his face and bruises on his forehead again.

I watched him warily as it could still be a trap.

"It's okay, it's just me," he said, giving me a side glance, and rubbed the back of his head. "Are you hurt?"

"I'll survive."

"Will they shoot me?"

That made me smile. "No, they'll be more mad at me for being an idiot, but I obviously wasn't, so it will be fine."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," he muttered but held out his hand, and we helped each other get up.

We cut it through the garden, walking in the direction of the house, and by the time we got there, we were both laughing.

The execution platoon waiting on the front steps was not impressed with the blood on our clothes and the fine wine aromas surrounding us.

"I'm sorry, Mistress," Del babbled. "They threatened to dismember me if I didn't tell them what was going on."

Alec opened his mouth to say something, but Chase snapped first, "Are you insane?"

"I have it on good authority that I'm not," I replied, recalling one of our early discussions.

Chase shrugged off his jacket, placed it on my shoulders, and ranted at me all the way to the living room. I kept my head down and nodded while waiting for him to finish, being used to it.

"Wow, you're good!" Alec patted his back when Chase made a pause to breathe. "Welcome to the family. Let us know when you get tired so we can take over."

I glared at Alec, but Chase wasn't done yet.

"Are you kidding me? You lot are useless! Look what she did to herself. Look, her hands are bleeding again."

Indeed, they were. It must have happened when I opened the last door.

Chase shook his head, hands on his hips. "That's it. I'm moving in!"

If he had hit me in the head with something, I wouldn't have been more surprised. I leaned in towards Gabriel and whispered, "Did he just say he's moving in?"

Gabriel smirked. "Don't you want the good doctor to move in?"

"I…" I snapped my mouth shut, which wasn't easy to do since I was still shaking from the cold. What did I want?

I looked at Chase and found myself smiling. He wouldn't survive our crazy family life, not in a million years, but the guys liked him, everyone did, so maybe it wasn't such a terrible idea to at least try.

Glancing at Gabriel, who still looked at me, apparently waiting for an answer, I walked up to Chase, wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed him. "It wasn't irresponsible, it was a calculated risk. I did what needed to be done, and I am still here. You can yell at me all you want, I'll still be here. And I'll still love you."

Chase drew in a sharp breath. I held mine, afraid I had pushed it too far and scared him off. But his eyes softened as he gazed at me and he didn't pull away. "Let me see those hands."


End file.
